Gareth Bale flashes his pants as Spurs are held by West Ham

Gareth Bale was forced to show fans his pants as Spurs were held to a 0-0 draw by West Ham United on Saturday.

The Tottenham midfielder fell victim to a jobsworth moment from referee Mike Dean , who ordered the Welshman off the pitch after ten minutes because his undershorts were the wrong colour.

Gareth Bale changes in front of a bemused Harry Redknapp (PA)

He changed in front of a bemused looking Harry Redknapp , before returning to produce the kind of performance that has had his manager calling for Bale to be named player of the year.

Bale terrorised the Hammers backline as Spurs dominated proceedings at White Hart Lane and went close to winning the game late on when he sent a free-kick flying towards the top corner, only for the outstanding Robert Green to make an athletic save and tip the ball on to the bar.

It was the third time Tottenham had hit the woodwork – Michael Dawson striking the bar and Aaron Lennon the post in the first half – but this was no hard luck story for the hosts, even though Redknapp later dismissed the scoreline as ‘one of those matches’.

They created a succession of clear chances throughout the game and could only blame themselves for the poor finishing that let West Ham off the hook. Jermain Defoe was the main culprit, as he showed why his place in the England squad is thought to be under threat.

Things could have been worse for Spurs, as on a rare raid forward West Ham’s Demba Ba forced Heurelho Gomes into a fine save after the break.

The result made it four Premier League games without defeat for the Hammers, who climbed out of the bottom three, but left Spurs two points adrift of Chelsea in the race for fourth.